Pamela McGee

Pamela McGee

Personal information
Born	(1962-12-01) December 1, 1962 Flint, Michigan
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
College	USC
WNBA draft	1997 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Medals Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Team Pan American Games 1983 Caracas Team FIBA World Championship for Women 1983 Rio de Janeiro Team Jones Cup 1984 Taipei Team

Pamela Denise McGee (born December 1, 1962)^[1] is an American retired professional women's basketball player and assistant coach. At age 34, Pamela was the second overall pick in the 1997 WNBA Draft. She played in the league for two seasons with the Sacramento Monarchs and Los Angeles Sparks.

McGee grew up in Flint, Michigan, where she attended Flint Southwestern Academy before graduating from Flint Northern High School.

Pamela won back-to-back NCAA Championships as an All-American at the University of Southern California, where she was a teammate of twin sister Paula, and Cynthia Cooper and Cheryl Miller. In 1984, she won Olympic gold in Los Angeles before embarking on a professional career that included stints in Brazil, France, Italy and Spain.

USA Basketball

McGee was selected to be a member of the team representing the USA at the 1983 Pan American Games held in Caracas, Venezuela. The team won all five games to earn the gold medal for the event. McGee averaged 3.4 points per game.^[2]

McGee played for the USA National team in the 1983 World Championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. The Soviets Elena Chausova received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. McGee averaged 4.2 points per game.^[3]

In 1984, the USA sent its National team to the 1984 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. McGee averaged 6.5 points per game.^[4]

She continued with the national team to represent the USA at the 1984 Olympics. The team won all six games to claim the gold medal. McGee averaged 6.2 points per game.^[5][6]

Personal

McGee has a daughter, current WNBA player Imani Boyette and a son, NBA player and NBA champion JaVale McGee currently with the Golden State Warriors. Pamela is the first WNBA player to have a child play in the NBA and WNBA.^[7] In 2012, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She lives in Annandale, Virginia.^[8] The consecutive NCAA championships followed two Michigan state championships at Flint Northern High School. Besides playing in France, Italy and Brazil, she was drafted #2 at 34 years old, into the WNBA. She starred for the Los Angeles Sparks and Sacramento Monarchs.^[9] JaVale McGee is the first son of a WNBA player to ever play in the NBA.^[10] His younger half sister, 6'7" Imani Boyette, also plays in the WNBA for the Chicago Sky.^[11] Pam, with a degree in economics, balanced her international basketball career with raising both children, home schooling, coaching and teaching school in the off season, though the formidable tasks were not without controversy.^{[12] [13]} Her sister Paula holds two masters degrees, including one in the Hebrew Bible.

References

External links

• Official website
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110224011311/http://www.wnba.com/coachfile/pamela_mcgee/index.html?nav=page
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001943_pf.html